Machine for treating articles of sheet material



March 14, 1939. H. GINGELL 2,150,274

MACHINE FOR TREATING ARTICLES OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1936 3Sheets-Sheet l 7 NVENTUR.

March 14, 1939. HJGINGELL 2,150,274

MACHINE FOR TREATING ARTICLES 0F SHEET MATERIAL Filed Sept. 18, 1936 3Sheets-Sheet 2 rllllllllnllul March 14, 1939.

H. GINGELL \MACHINE FOR TREATING ARTICLES OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed Sept.18, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 UNITED s'rs'rss PATENT orr ciz MACHINE 01'Harry Gingeil, Johnson City, N. Y., United Shoe Machinery Corporation,Paterson,

N. 1., a corporation of New Jersey Application September is, 1936,Serial No'.101,479 9 Claims. "(01(91-48) This invention relates tomachines for treatwhich it occupies while being carried through the ingarticles of sheet material and is herein illustempering liquid, andbeingshown in dot-andtrated as embodied in a machine which may be dashlines in the position in which it fails when employed to temper solesintended for use in the certain spacing and supporting pins have been 5,manufacture of boots and shoes. withdrawn.

In the manufacture of shoes it is customary to Referring fi to s- 1 and6, t e a e of treat the soles witha tempering liquid so as to themachine compris four upright posts in he put them into a conditionsuitable for certain form of angle irons 9, H, l and r d t operations towhich they are subsequently subthe corners of a rectangle, the rest 01'the frame 10 Jected; and in the illustrated machine the soles comprisingprincipally certa n Crossbars support- 10 are caused to travel through aliquid. In order ed directly or indirectly by these posts. Suptofacilitate this travel and at the same time to p rt d n s s, not, s w arthe'lower expose the soles as thoroughly as possible to the ends ofthe-uprights. is a pt le Q for a liquid, there are provided, inaccordance with one, tempering liquid 2| through w c a tic es Suchfeature of the invention, means for causing ar- $0185 are p to temper.them- T 15 tlcles of sheet material, u h oles, to trav l soles are heldin article supports or carriers, each in a closed path, and means forholding the arindicated a a Whole by A and susticles on edge in spacedrelation andwith their pended by hooks from pp s e nds of rods 9| planessubstantially parallel to their direction of which in turn are fastenedat their Op e ds travel. And preferably this holding-means in tO twoconveyor Che-111513. the chain 23 bei 20 cludes a presser member whichengages upper Shown in 1, and a P 0! the h i 25, which edges of thearticles, as well as a backing mem- 15 directly behind it v'lewed.inthat figure, her which engages their trailing ends. In the vbeing shownin a 2; he c ain 23 (Fig. 1) illustrated machine, soles are heldupright, on Passes around W70 Sprockets 29 near the p 25 edge in spacedrelation, upon carriers suspended of the frame and around two Sprockets33 25v from a conveyor, the lower horizontal run of heal the bottom ofthe frame: The p s 0i p which travels above a body-0f tempering liquidthe two upper sprockets 21, 28, are rotatably i receptacle i such mannert t t soles mounted in bearings which are bolted to a crossr caused t t1 through a portion of the bar 35, and the spindles of the two lowersprock- 30 liquid. A backing member, one for each carrier, ets 3|, 33are rotatable in bearings bolted to B- 30 engages the trailing ends ofthe solesto prevent OrOSSber The Sprockets 0f t e other cha n them frombeing swept out of their carrier; and 25 (FIE 2) are mounted in aSimilar mannerpresser member, one each engag-es The spindle, of the twolower sprockets 39,4l

the top edges of the soles to prevent them from shOWh that figure arerotatably mounted in 35 rising. bearings which are bolted to a crossbar42. The

Th and t r features of t invention, chains 23, 25 are both driven from acountershaft eluding certain details of construction and com- 43 whichis mtata'bly mounted at one end in binations of parts, will be set forthas embodied bearing member bolted to the os b 31 a d in an illustratedmachine and oint d ut m th at its other end in a bearing member 41bolted 4o appended claims. to the crossbar 42. Near one of its ends thecoun- 4 In the drawings, 'tershaft carries a sprocket 49 around whichand Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a machine inwhich around sprocket fasto the p e f the the present invention is embodied; sprocket 33 passes achain 53. Near the other of Fig. 2 is a section on th line 11-41 1 Flg,1; its ends the countershaft 43 carries a sprocket 45 Fig. 3 is a detailin plan showing more particuar u d wh h a a u d a sp t 51 fast to 45llid'ly the-connection between one of the conveyor the spindle of th spo t 4| pa a c ai chains and one end of one-oi the rods from which Thecountershaft 43 is driven by a motor 6| the article supports or carriersare suspended; through a reduction r in gear box he Fig. 4 is an endelevation of the parts shown m to d e e x being o te upon a 50* in Fig.3; 1 plate or bed which is located above the coun- 50 Fig. 5 is an endelevation of the belt and pultershaft 43, said bed 65 being supportedontwo leys for driving the pump; channel bars 66 which in turn areriveted ,re- Fig. 6 is a section on the line VI-VI of Fig. 1; spectivelyto the upper portions of comparatively Fig. '7 is a section on the lineVIIVII.of Fig. 6, wide channel bars 68 supported respectively on 56 asole .being shown in full lines-in the position the crossbar I1 and onthe crossbar 42. A chain 5 61 passes around a sprocket 33 on one end ofthe shaftof the motor and around a sprocket 1I fast to the outer end ofa horizontal shaft II which extends into the gear box and carries a worm15 (Fig. 1) in mesh with a worm gear 11 fast to a- 85. With thisconstruction rotation of the motor GI, through the' d rivingconnections, which have just been described, will cause the two chainsto move slowly in unison. The chains'are caused to move a short distanceand then brought to rest by an electrical control mechanism, not shown.

' The motor is started by the operator Who me.-

nipulates with his foot a switch control member 81 (shown at the bottomof Fig. 1) to cause current to flow from a supply line to the motor. Themotor rotates until a part of one of the sole carriers operates anotherswitch control member 89 (Fig. 1) near the top of the machine whereuponcurrent is cut off from the motor and remains cut off until the member81 is again manipulated. This electrical control system is not shown,since the details of its construction form no part of the presentinvention and any suitable control system may be used which will causeintermittent movement of theconveyor in the manner described. It will beunderstood, however, that the operator starts each movement of theconveyor, and that it moves a distance equal to the distance between anytwo of the equally spaced sole carriers and then comes to rest.

The rods 9| from which the sole carriersare suspended have theiropposite ends fastened respectively to the chain 23 and the chain 25 atequally spaced intervals and are provided near each end with a roll.Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the manner in which one end of one rod isfastened to the chain 23 and the mounting of one roll will be described,it being understood that the other end of the rod is fastened in asimilar manner to the other chain and carries at its other end anotherroll. Driven into a socket in one end of the rod is the stem of aipin93. Upon a cylindrical portion of this pin near the end of the rod 9| ismounted a roll 95. The portion of the pin 93 which extends out beyondthe roll is square in cross section and is fastened by two bolts 91 totwo ears 99 which project from a link of the chain 23. Referring to Fig.1, it will be noted that the conveyor chains move up from the right-handend of the receptacle I9, then across the top of the machine, then downtoward the left-hand end of the receptacle, and then across the bottomof the machine just above the receptacle. During this last horizontalmovement the rolls on the rods ride on horizontal tracks, the rollsnearest to the observer in Fig. 1 riding on the track IOI and those atthe farther end of the machine riding on the track I03 (Fig. 2). Thetrack IOI (Fig. 1) is suspended by two hangers I05 from the channel bars56, and the track I03 (Fig. 2) 'is suspended from the same channel barsby hangers I01. The sole supports or carriers, as has been stated, aresuspended from the equally spaced rods 9|; and the purpose of the tracksIOI, I03 is to resist thedownward pull of these sole carriers when theyare being drawn through the liquid in the receptacle by the lowerhorizontal runs of the conveyor chains.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 6 a'nd'7,with occasional referencesto Fig. 1, the construction and mounting of one of the sole carriers Awill be described. Each sole carrier or article support comprises aframe consisting of two hollow rods I03, III fastened by cotter pinsIII-in bores in two generally triangular end members III, III having attheir upper ends r w ctively hooks I11, II! by which the frame issuspended from one of the rods 31. The triangular end members III, II5are also connected I2I rigidly fastened to said end members by end nutsI 23 and check nuts I25. Fastened respec-v tively to the left-hand sidesof the end members |I3,.II5 are brackets I21 having alined bores inwhich are fastened by cotter pins I30 the opposite ends of a rod ISI.This rod engages the trailing ends. of the soles I00 and serves as anabutment or backing member to resist the tendency of the soles to beswept out of the carrier when they are passing through the temperingliquid. In order to hold the soles on edge in spaced relation and inplanes substantially parallel to their direction of travel, the solesrest with their lower edges upon the rods I03, III, I2I, or. some ofthem, and are held upright in separated relation by spacer pins I33which pro- .Iect upward in pairs from a base plate I35. In order topress the soles down upon the rods I03, III, I2I a presser is providedin the form of a rod I31 having its opposite ends fastened by cotterpins respectively in alined bores in the ends of two curved arms I 33, Ithe hubs of which are rotatably mounted on the hollow rod I03. In Fig.7, and in all but one instance in Fig. 1, these arms are shown swung tothe left into operative position in which the rod I31 is pressed downupon the top edges of the soles. In Fig. 1, however, the solecarrier Awhich is at the loading station (indicated by B) has its arms swung downto the right about the axis of the hollow rod I09 into inoperativeposition.

When a sole carrier arrives at the loading station B and comes to rest,the operator removes the soles which have been tempered and replacesthem by soles which are to be tempered. It would take considerable timeto pick up the soles one by one from between the spacer pins I33 afterthe presser rod I 31 has been swung down out of the way; and to avoidsuch a procedure, the spacer pins I33 are swung down into inoperativeposition, as shown in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 7 as well as at theloading station in Fig. 1, whereupon the soles fall on their sides inoverlapping relation into the position of the sole shown in dot-and-dashlines in Fig. 7. The operator may then slide the tempered solestogether, for example by holding one hand in engagement with the sole atone end of the series and with a sweep of his other hand gathering theminto a bunch, and remove them from the sole carrier. In order to permitthe spacer pins I33 to be dropped from between the soles at the loadingstation, the base plate I35 by which the pins are carried is fastened byscrews to two arms I41 (Fig. 6), said arms having hubs which arerotatably mounted on the hollow rod II I. To.the under side of the baseplate I35 at about its middle is fastened a latch I49 the right-hand endof which (Fig. 7) normally rests upon the left-hand end of a catch I5Iwhich is slidably mounted in a block I53, said block having a bore toreceive the hollow rod I03 and being fastened thereto by a cotter pinI55. A tension spring I51 which engages withone end a shoulder on theblock and with its other end a shoulder on the catch I5I tends at alltimes to hold the catch in the operative position shown. When, however,the handle of the catch is grasped by three small stay rods like thecrossbar I59.

and pulled to the right, the latch I49 is released, and the base plate Iwith its spacer pins swings down into the dot-and-dash line positionshown in Fig. 7 whereupon the soles fall over on their sides in more orless overlapping relation and may readily be gathered up and removed.The extent to which the arms I41 may swing down when the catch I51 isdisengaged is limited by two short chains I58 which are fastened bytheir upper ends respectively to the end members I I3, I I5 and at theirlower .ends respectively to the arms I41.

In the operation-of the machine the operator stands in front of theloading station B (Fig. 1). The sole carrier A shown at that station hasjust been unloadedby pulling out the catch I5I and allowing the arms I41to swing down, by swinging the arms I39 with their presser rod I31outward and downward, and by sweeping the soles into a bunchand removingthem. Ifhe opera tor now swings up the base member comprising the armsI41, the base plate I35, the pins I33 and the latch I49 until this latchsnaps over the catch I5I. He then'fills the'sole carrier with soles tobe tempered by placing each sole. be-

tween two pairs of spacer pins with its lower edge resting upon some orall of the rods I99, III, I2I and with one of its ends (the toe end ashere shown) abutting the rod I3I, and finally he swings the arms I39upward and inward to cause the presser rod I31 to rest upon the upperedges of the soles. After the sole carrier at the loading station hasbeen loaded with fresh soles, the operator manipulates the switchcontrol 81 with his foot whereupon the motor starts to rotate and theconveyor chains move a distance equal to the distance between any two ofthe supporting rods 9| by reason of the fact that one of these rods (theone at the upper righthand corner of Fig. 1) operates the switch control89 to shut ofi the current from the motor. In order to ensure that theupper runs of the conveyor chains shall be held up so as to operate theswitch control 89 without fail, two tracks are provided for theseupper'runs of the chain, one of these tracks being shown at I56 in Fig.1 as suspended from a crossbar I59 by hangers I6I The track for theother chain is like the track I56 and is similarly supported from acrossbar The conveyor chains are thus caused to move intermittently inthe manner described and to come to rest in the position shown in Fig.1with three of the sole car-. riers immersed in the liquid in thereceptacle I9. The upper switch control, 89 is carried by a. slidemember I63 adjustably'fastened to a crossbar IE5 by bolts which passthrough bores in the member and through a slot I61 in the crossbar.

It is thus possible to changethe location of the switch control 89 so asto vary the position in which the conveyor chains come'to rest.

In order to provide means for withdrawing liquid from the receptacle I9and supplying liquid thereto, a tank I69 is supported on three channelbars I" which in turn are supported by two crossbars I13 to which theopposite ends of the channel bars are riveted. In the lower part of thetank I69 is a-priming chamber I15 into which opens the discharge end ofa pipe I11 which leads from the discharge opening of a pump I19, 9. handvalve I89 being provided in said pipe. -A suction pipe I8I leads fromnear the bottom of the receptacle I9 to the inlet opening of the pump.From near the bottom of the tank I69 a pipe I82 is arranged to dischargethe contents of the tank into the receptacle I9'when a hand valve I83 inthis pipe is open. The pump .119 (Fig. 2) is of the rotary type, theshaft I85 of its rotor having fast to one end a pulley I81 around whichand around a pulley I89 on the shaft of the motor 6| extends a belt I9I.A belt tightener pulley I93 (Fig. 5) is rotatably carried by a blockwhich is vertically slidable on two upright slides I95 and rests uponthe upper runoi the belt. A drain plug I91 (Fig. 1) in the bottom of thereceptacle I9 covers the upper end of -a drain pipe I99. With thisconstruction it is possible to maintain any predetermined level ofliquid in the receptacle I9 or to empty the receptacle entirely ifdesired.

Although the invention has been set forth as embodied in a particularmachine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited inthe scope of its application to the particular machine which has beenshown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1.' A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, incombination, means for causing them to travel in a closed path, andmeans for holding the articles loosely on edge in spaced retrailing endsof the articles.

2. A machine for treating articles of. sheet material having, incombination, meansfor causing them to travel in a closed path, and meansfor holding the articles loosely on edge in spaced relation and withtheir planes substantially parallel to their direction of travel, saidholding means including a frame upon which the lower edges of thearticles restand a presser for engaging the upper edges of the articles.

3. A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, in.combination, a conveyor, means for driving the'conveyor, and an articlesupport carried by the conveyor, said article support comprising aframe, spacers for holding the articles loosely on edge in spacedrelation on the frame in planes parallel to their direction of travel,and a presser for engaging the upper edges of the articles.

4. A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, incombination, a conveyor, means for driving the conveyor, and an articlesupport carried by the conveyor, said article support comprising aframe, spacers for holding the articles on edge in spaced relation onthe frame, a presser for engaging the upper edges of the articles, and abacking member in engagement with the trailing ends of the articles.

5. A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, incombination, a receptacle for liquid, a conveyor for carrying articlesthrough the liquid, and an article support suspended from the conveyor,said article support comprising a frame, spacers for holding thearticles loosely on edge and in spaced relation on the frame, and apresser for engaging the upper edges of the articles, said presser beingmounted for movement away from the articles to permit ready ac-' theliquid, and an article support suspended from the conveyor, said articlesupport comprising a frame, spacers for holding the articles on edge andin spaced relation on the frame, and a presser for engaging the upperedges of the articles, said presser being mounted for movement away fromthe articles to permit ready access to them, and said spacers beingmounted for withdrawal from operative position to permit the articles tofall when it is desired to remove them.

7. A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, incombination, a conveyor, means for driving the conveyor, and an articlesupport carried by the conveyor, said article support comprising a frameon which the articles rest, a base carried by the frame and movable intoeither operative or inoperative position, spacers carried by the baseand adapted when the base is in operative position to hold the articleson edge and in spaced relation, and a presser also carried by the frameand movable into either operative or inoperative position and adaptedwhen in operative position to engage the upper edges of the articles.

8. A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, incombination, a conveyor, means for driving the conveyor, and an articlesupport carried by the conveyor, said article support comprising a frameon which the articles rest, a base carried by the frame and movable intoeither operative or inoperative position, spacers carried by the baseand adapted when the base is in operative position to hold the articleson edge and in spaced relation, 9. presser also'carrled by the frame andmovable into either operative or inoperative position and adapted wheninoperative position to engage the upper edges of the articles, and abacking member adapted to engage the edges of the articles at a localitybetween their upper and lower edges.

9. A machine for treating articles of sheet material having, in,combination, a conveyor, means for driving the conveyor, and an articlesupport carried by the conveyor, said article support comprising a frameon which the articles rest, a base hinged to the frame, spacers carriedby the base, a catch normally holding the base up with the spacers inoperative position and adapted when released to permit the frame toswing down to withdraw the spacers, and a presser also hinged to theframe and movable from operative to inoperative position.

HARRY GINGELL,

